New Delhi: With controversy brewing over the civil services exam cut-off for economically weaker section (EWS) candidates being lower than that of other reserved categories, officials of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) have said that there is nothing legally or constitutionally wrong in the cut-offs announced by the commission.
The cut-offs for the three stages of the civil service examination (CSE) — prelims, mains and interview — conducted by the UPSC for 2019 are as follows: 98 for prelims, 751 for mains and 961 for the interview for the general category; similarly 90, 696 and 909 for the EWS category; 95.3, 718 and 925 for the Other Backward Classes (OBC); 82, 706 and 898 for the Scheduled Castes (SC) category and 77.3, 699 and 893 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
With the cut-off for the EWS category candidates being lower than that of the OBC category in all the stages, and lower than that of the SC and ST categories for certain stages, several took to Twitter to allege that the commission was making it easier for applicants from the general caste to clear the exam through the EWS quota.
This is the first time that the UPSC implemented the 10 per cent EWS quota for upper-caste poor in the CSE. This is in addition to the already-existing reservation granted to SCs (15 per cent), STs (7.5 per cent) and OBCs (27 per cent).
But due to the lower cut-off, the hashtag #End_Savarna_Quota_UPSC was trending on Twitter Wednesday.
#UPSCResults-ல், BC, MBC, SC, ST பிரிவினருக்கான சமூகநீதி உரிமை தட்டிப்பறிக்கப்பட்டிருப்பது அதிர்ச்சியளிக்கிறது!
EWS-க்கான 10% இடஒதுக்கீடு UPSC தேர்வின் ஒவ்வொரு கட்டத்திலும் சமூகநீதிக்கு பாதகத்தை விளைவித்துள்ளது.#UPSCresults2019 தவறுகளைக் களைந்து, நீதி வழங்கிட வேண்டும்! pic.twitter.com/QyFvU4FZXE
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 10, 2020
It's high time Government should clear all the doubts and queries related to UPSC's reserved list.
Govt is continuously reducing job Opportunity at top most level for OBC/Sc/St.
Reducing fresh entry through vacancies & Lateral Entry through close doors.#End_Savarna_Quota_UPSC— Nitin Kandharkar (@imNRK17) August 12, 2020
When EWS reservation is still under consideration. The constitutionality is being heard by Constitution Bench of 5 Judges of Supreme Court. The result can be anything. How come UPSC is implementing EWS reservation. What will happen, if it is held void. #End_Savarna_Quota_UPSC https://t.co/kI3GYWJ2et
— Nitin Meshram (@nitinmeshram_) August 12, 2020
Nothing wrong in cut-offs, defends UPSC
Senior UPSC officials told ThePrint that the controversy was unfounded since every reserved category is bound to have its own cut-off list, which depends on the number of candidates who come forward to avail the quota in that category and their performance.
“If fewer people are coming forward to avail the EWS quota, then obviously its cut-off will be lower in comparison to the SC/ST/OBC quota,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
“And the 10 per cent EWS quota is separate from the SC/ST/OBC quota… What this means is they are not competing with each other,” the official added. “So how can one allege that the EWS will eat into the other reserved seats? At the end of the day, EWS is a separate category with its own cut-off.”
An official of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) agreed. “There are Supreme Court judgments that say that the cut-off for general cannot be lower than that of the reserved categories,” the official said. “But EWS is also a reserved category now, and there are no guidelines to say that EWS quota has to be higher or lower.”
A Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) official added that it is not necessary that EWS quota should be higher than SC/ST/OBC quota because these days the commission is witnessing a large number of general seats being taken up by reserved category candidates on merit.
Last year, the Modi government had announced the EWS quota for the upper-caste poor in government jobs and educational institutes, fulfilling a longstanding demand of the financially-disadvantaged sections of the general category.
Also read: Language test for UPSC — less than 5% IAS, IFS officers take civil services exam in Hindi